With Office 365, Microsoft is responsible for the uptime of the Office 365 infrastructure, but backup and management of the data is the customer’s responsibility.

The NEW Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 v4 offers direct integration with Microsoft’s Azure Blob Storage, giving companies that want to keep their Office 365 data in Azure a scalable and secure solution for doing so, according to the company.

More from the company on Veeam Backup:

An industry-first built-in cloud cost estimator tool will provide customers with greater cost controls and savings while integration with Veeam Backup & Replication will allow customers to take control of their cloud data by protecting and managing Azure backups alongside their cloud, virtual and physical data.

“With 114% year-over-year growth, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 continues to be the fastest growing product in Veeam’s history,” said Ratmir Timashev, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Veeam.

“Just as in the on-premises days with customers backing up and protecting their data, the need persists with SaaS solutions to back up and protect this same critical information. Veeam Backup for Office 365 delivers on this need and with the rapid rise in adoption for Azure we’re seeing across our customer base, Veeam is excited to build from our work with Microsoft and deliver a native backup solution developed specifically for Azure-based workloads.”

Read Next: Ensuring Your Storage and Backup Plan and Technology is Secure

Significant benefits of the new version include the ability for customers to:

• Reduce costs with object storage and only pay for what is consumed.
• Leverage unlimited scalability with unlimited storage capacity.
• Simplify deployment in the public cloud and no complex planning.

Learn more here.

The post Veeam Unveils New Backup Solutions for Microsoft Cloud Platforms appeared first on My TechDecisions.

But if you read this data breaches list thinking, “these are mega-companies; the risk of a data hack at my organization is much smaller” — you could use a reality check. 

According to this Varonis report, 57 percent of companies have over 1,000 folders with inconsistent permissions. Are you sure you’re paying enough attention to potential cyber risks? 

Maybe if these organizations had paid more attention, they could have prevented such large-scale data breaches. 

Here are the 5 biggest data breaches and hacks in 2019 so far and how they could have been prevented: 

5) Oklahoma Department of Securities: Potentially Millions of Files Breached

The Oklahoma Department of Securities recently dealt with a breach of millions of files, some of which were involved with FBI investigations. UpGuard data breach research says a storage server – with records dating as far back as 1986 – says it is unclear how long the records were publicly accessible, but an IP address search engine first registered it in November of 2018. 

“The data was exposed via an unsecured rsync service at an IP address registered to the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, allowing any user from any IP address to download all the files stored on the server,” the UpGuard report says. 

How It Could Have Been Prevented 

UpGuard classified the Securities Commission website as having “severe risk of breach,” due in part to its use of a web server which reached end-of-life in 2015 (IIS 6.0). This means no updates were made to address new vulnerabilities in the last few years.  

Data storage is often mandated by retention policies, particularly in the government sector. While creating backups is a best practice, the crucial part is to control every copy of the data stores, says UpGuard. 

Click here for more advice on how to do that. 

4) Flipboard: ~150,000,000

Content aggregation app Flipboard announced earlier this year that unauthorized access to databases containing Flipboard user information happened between June 2, 2018 and March 23, 2019, and between April 21, 2019 and April 22, 2019.  

Those databases contain names, usernames, email addresses, and cryptographically-protected passwords, the company says. It is not yet known how many accounts were affected, but Flipboard reportedly serves 150,000,000 app users, and said in their announcement that not all of whom were involved.  

While the fact that the hacked passwords were “cryptographically-protected” typically means more difficulty for the hacker, Flipboard did also report that passwords created or changed before March of 2012 were protected with a weaker algorithm, says a Forbes article about the data breach. What’s more, the digital tokens used to connect Flipboard with social media accounts “may have” also been stored in the databases.  

How It Could Have Been Prevented 

Attackers often work to obtain logins, names, email addresses, passwords, and other personal information of apps and accounts like this—all of which can help them plot and carry out even more criminal activity, says Rob Simopolous, Founder of Defendify.

“Unfortunately, today a large percentage of users have poor cyber hygiene, reusing same password on numerous sites and systems. This causes a domino effect where if an attacker breaches a site and obtains a user’s password, they may then be able to access a variety of other sensitive accounts of that user,” he says.

“Some of these attack methods include credential stuffing which is automated and allows attackers to try these passwords on numerous sites quickly.

“Given the high degree of password recycling still at play, additional security measures are needed. Software developers can help by including Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) as a part of the login process. Two-Factor Authentication requires users to enter a password and then another code (e.g. A rolling code from an app or text message form their mobile phone) in order to complete the authentication process. Providers can further assist by encouraging 2FA activation by providing in-app guidance to users and explaining why turning on Two-Factor Authentication is important” — Rob Simopolous

3) Fortnite: ~200,000,000 (link) 

One of the most prominent games in pop culture lately, Fortnite sees roughly 200 million users worldwide vie to be the last player standing. But Check Point Research found vulnerabilities which “could have allowed a threat actor to take over the account of any game player, view their personal account information, purchase V-bucks, Fortnite’s virtual in-game currency and eavesdrop on and record players’ in-game chatter,” according to the report. 

It isn’t uncommon for cyber criminals to create fake landing pages surrounding these popular online games that advertise ways to earn in-game currency while phishing for credentials.  

Check Point Research didn’t need to create a fake website to recreate the breach, though. They didn’t even need a user to hand over log in information whatsoever. 

The researchers found a weakness in Fortnite’s sub-domains which allows an XSS attack if the user only clicks on a link sent by the attacker. Here is a recreation of such an attack provided by Check Point:  

How It Could Have Been Prevented 

“Whereas in the past security has often been deprioritized given its cost, and well, inconvenience, in today’s world it’s absolutely critical multiple layers of security be implemented starting at the app development level,” says Simopolous.

“Organizations should have (or build) fundamentals and practices around secure coding and code reviews throughout their engineering teams. There should be a checks and balances process internally to ensure that the teams are coding securely.

“Conducting regular testing and scanning can also assist in identifying weaknesses in their applications as well. Web Application Penetration Testing (WAPT) can be implemented where ethical hackers work to see if they can discover vulnerabilities and exploit them before the attackers do. The results of a penetration test will outline what weaknesses were discovered. There should be a methodology of continuous testing and the frequency should be determined based on the results of a proper risk assessment.”

2) Facebook: ~540,000,000

This is the news that prompted some tech publications to encourage all Facebook users to change their passwords. In April 2019, UpGuard reported on two third-party Facebook apps holding large datasets which left their data exposed to the public — one of the biggest data breaches in social media history. 

The breach from media company Cultura Colectiva’s app contains over 540 million records, including FB id’s, likes, reactions, and more. 

Another Facebook app backup titled “At the Pool” also contained user id’s, as well as columns for fb_likes, fb_music, fb_movies, fb_books, fb_photos, fb_events, fb_groups, fb+checkins, fb_interests, and much more, according to UpGuard. This affected at least 22,000 users. 

“The data sets vary in when they were last updated, the data points present, and the number of unique individuals in each. What ties them together is that they both contain data about Facebook users, describing their interests, relationships, and interactions, that were available to third party developers. As Facebook faces scrutiny over its data stewardship practices, they have made efforts to reduce third party access.” — UpGuard report 

How It Could Have Been Prevented 

Many organizations are now building bug bounty programs where ethical hackers signup to perform penetration testing on their systems and when reported ethically they will be rewarded in a payment, says Simopolous. This provides access to a larger group of testers with a reward system as incentive. Once identified, organizations should move quickly to remediate the weaknesses.

“Detecting and responding to a breach quickly is a vital part of a successful cybersecurity program…it’s truly a race. Once a breach is identified, organizations should respond accordingly based on a pre-developed incident response plan. Team testing and review of that plan should be scheduled regularly, and updates made accordingly to ensure the organization is acutely prepared.

“In the end it’s a combination of having the right processes in place, testing regularly, and taking the extra steps to prioritize and develop layered security (i.e. no shortcuts to save the P&L!). This only happens when organizations instill a genuine security-first mindset, stemming from the leadership team, and making its way to everyone involved including contractors and vendors.”

1) First American Corporation: ~885,000,000 

Topping the list of biggest data breaches and hacks in 2019 so far is this hack of the American real estate title insurer, First American Corporation’s website. Security reporter KrebsOnSecurity says the company’s website leaked over three quarters of a billion mortgage deal documents, including bank account numbers, tax records, Social Security numbers, wire transaction receipts, and driver’s license images. 

Krebs says it was tipped off by a real estate developer who “said anyone who knew the URL for a valid document at the Web site could view other documents just by modifying a single digit in the link,” according to KrebsOnSecurity. 

The 885,000,000 files, which date as far back as 16 years, were available to view without authentication requirements.   

How It Could Have Been Prevented 

In their report, KrebsOnSecurity called this type of breach “one of the most common yet preventable.”  

Said one commenter on their post: “Let’s talk honestly, if First America used a serialization Content Management System or CMS [or CRM] years ago – would a simple plug-in such as Prevent Direct Access have helped keep First America s customer’s data safe?” 

Read Next: 3 Ways to Prevent Data Breaches 

Others replied, saying that such a method might do the trick, but that the amount of content stored there would become too much to handle. A more expensive option for securely cataloguing the data – rather than hosting it online at all – might have been more appropriate for such sensitive information. 

The post The 5 Biggest Data Breaches in 2019 So Far (And How They Could Have Been Prevented) appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Called Unitrends MSP, the new venture marks the first time Burlington, Mass.-based Unitrends, which is well known as a maker of perpetually-licensed business continuity solutions, has offered subscription-priced products tailored to the needs of MSPs.

The company currently has two offerings: an appliance-based business continuity/disaster recovery solution and an associated “backup advisor” application designed to help MSPs prioritize pending alerts.

The backup system layers entirely new functionality on top of the legacy Unitrends solution’s core data protection engine.

“It’s something that’s been around for a long time that’s trusted by tens of thousands of enterprise customers and has a great reputation in the market,” says Unitrends MSP CEO Mike Sanders of the older solution’s code base. “We’re not building that part of what we’re doing from scratch.”

The rest of the Unitrends MSP backup solution is new and specific to MSP requirements, however. Key features include a cloud-based management portal offering centralized access to backup appliances at multiple customer sites and an all-new set of reports custom-written for providers of outsourced IT services.

Designed to be suitable for both SMBs and large enterprises, Unitrends MSP appliances offer capacity options ranging from 1 TB to over 100.

“We feel very confident that we can cover the bulk of the market,” Sanders says.

Subscriptions are available for both single-year and multi-year terms, and offer a range of variably-priced options for storing data in the cloud. According to Sanders, though, the total recurring fee users pay will come in below current BDR market norms regardless of the selections they make.

“I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised,” he says. “We’re going to be markedly less expensive than our competitors.”

That pricing strategy reflects a conviction on Unitrends MSP’s part that the high price of appliance-based solutions from other vendors is the main reason many MSPs don’t include BDR among the services they offer.

“They haven’t found a solution that is within a price range that they can actually take out to their clients and sell and still have margin on it,” Sanders says. “I think that there’s an opportunity for us to come into the market at this point in time and really be disruptive.”

Unitrends MSP’s backup advisor system, called BackupIQ, draws on artificial intelligence technology to call technicians’ attention to the most urgent data protection issues, like a critical server that didn’t get backed up overnight.

“That’s a much bigger deal than a workstation that somebody had turned off during the time [when] their backup was supposed to happen,” Sanders says.

Sanders makes no bones about the fact that Norwalk, Conn.-based Datto Inc. is Unitrends MSP’s number one competitive priority.

“They take really fantastic care of their customers, but we believe that we’ve got a much better technical solution,” says Sanders, who calls the Unitrends BDR solution an enterprise-class product priced for SMBs.

“It’s designed for a different class of client,” he states, citing the Unitrends system’s SLA policy automation functionality as an example. That feature lets administrators configure backup, replication, archiving, and retention plans automatically based on recovery time and point objectives. The Unitrends product offers unusually flexible archiving options as well, according to Sanders.

“If you want to migrate backup copies to cheap storage in the cloud, you want to push stuff up onto your own storage, [or] you want to pull data off of the appliance and keep it for seven years or 10 years or whatever, those types of options have been handled,” he says.

Additionally, Sanders continues, Unitrends MSP is immune from the temptation Datto faces to limit interoperability of its products with third-party RMM and PSA platforms now that its acquisition by private investor Vista Equity Partners and merger with IT management software maker Autotask is complete.

“I’ve got a lot of clients who are worried that they’re going to get left out in the cold when it comes to their integration, because they’re not truly agnostic anymore,” he says.

Datto executives have emphasized their continued commitment to open APIs in recent interviews with ChannelPro, including one last week with CEO Austin McChord.

The twin solutions Unitrends MSP unveiled today are the first elements of a portfolio that will eventually include MSP-optimized versions of most of the products its parent company sells. All of those systems will be developed in house by Unitrends MSP, which has its own R&D, sales, service, and support teams.

“We’re our own independent company,” Sanders says. “We’re free to make our own decisions. We’re definitely not just a department of Unitrends.”

Operating separately allows the new company to devote all of its resources to a market with unique requirements, he adds.

“I think when you get companies that do MSP on the side, you don’t really get the same level of understanding in the business that you get when you have a company that is dedicated to it and really that’s all they do,” says Sanders.

Before agreeing to helm Unitrends MSP, Sanders was CEO of Cenersys, a maker of network intelligence software acquired earlier this month by IT Glue, the Vancouver, B.C.-based documentation vendor.

The post Unitrends Ships First BDR Solution appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Historically, storage and backup has meant servers and folders on servers. Today, storage and backup includes cloud storage – Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. Then you’ve got all of your devices and the different storage mechanisms on each of them. The idea of centralized storage is much more prevalent and important today.

Replicated storage ensures the data is the same everywhere that it is stored, but it is a double-edged sword. The potential threat becomes ending up with storage on devices that you’re not aware of. This makes backup more challenging as well. We used to look at backup as a copy or copies of the critical data on drives on your servers. Now backup is more strategic and further-reaching than it has ever been in the past.

Storage and backup is a necessity whether it’s a key part of your business or not. If you want an IT strategy with any type of consistency or uniformity you need to understand it. Over 90 percent of organizations have key data in places that they don’t have ownership of. Employees and even executives put data in personal storage drives because it’s easier to get to, instead of putting it where the company mandates the data should go.

Storage and backup is very much a factor of convenience – making sure people have access to what they need when and where they need it. However, it’s also very much a matter of security. If you don’t know where you data is, and you don’t have a backup strategy, you lose control of your data quickly. So the question becomes how to create a data storage strategy that is robust, protected, has a good backup and disaster recovery plan, but is also convenient enough for users that they don’t use their own methods and put data where it shouldn’t be.

Storage and Backup – On Premise or in the Cloud

The different types of data storage come down to on premise and in the cloud.

On premise storage involves storing data on local devices. Workstations, laptops, or a centralized servers or storage devices connected to the network fall under this category.

One of the benefits of on premise storage comes with moving large data files easily. Keeping information stored on your local network means it only needs to be in your network for you to access or transfer it. For example, a video file that needs a quick, local network environment to transfer from one device to another in the local area benefits from on premise storage. In addition, organizations with poor internet connectivity will use on premise storage to maintain a more traditional environment where data can be easily transferred across the local network. Organizations will also use on premise storage if they have certain systems, such as an ERP system, that need to stay within their network.

Most companies will use some combination of on premise storage and cloud storage.

The major benefit of cloud storage comes with the reliability of the data if something is to happen on premise. It could be a cyberattack, some sort of malfunction, or physical damage from a fire or flooding, but if on premise servers are destroyed the data is lost. Storing that data in the cloud ensures the data still exists. There is also the convenience factor. Cloud storage means you can access the same data set from anywhere on any device.

Platform vendors are investing significant effort into changing the way data is organized, consumed, and understood. The mentality on how to access data in these cloud platforms is different than what we see in file and folder systems. Companies with few or no key anchor points with on premise solutions find a lot of value and are starting to reshape how they view data with these cloud platforms.

What Should We Backup?

The mentality around data is evolving so quickly that the safest thing to do is make sure you have all data at all times. Although it is a case by case decision – there are compliance reasons why you don’t want to store data sometimes. In that case you need to decide whether you’re backing up everything or just a specific subset of data.

Cloud storage makes it easy to have a backup of personal data. In most cases, the personal data stored in someone’s drive, while still a function of the business ecosystem, can be trusted to be backed up by the cloud storage vendor. Do your due diligence and understand what the backup protocol of that cloud platform is. Especially in the case of critical data, where you may want to expand that backup.

You and your team should understand what is critical data that needs to be stored centrally versus expendable data that does not. Critical system and organizational data should go into a place that is relatively uncluttered. That gives you the separation to say that it is the most important data in your organization, and you may create a separate backup plan for this mission critical information. It can make sense to have this critical data stored and backed up by your cloud storage vendor. It also makes sense to keep a copy synchronized to a device or another data center so you can control your own retention and your own schedule for how those backups happen and where the data goes.

Creating a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

Most people, when they think about a backup and disaster recovery plan, think of a big, thick document. It’s good to have a specific, well thought out, documented plan that covers any kind of emergency. However, a lot of organizations look at that and say they don’t have the time or understanding to invest in that, so instead they do nothing.

If that’s the case, start with a three-pronged approach. Ask yourself these three questions:

• What do you do if you lose a file that you need?
• What do you do if you lose a piece of equipment that’s critical to your operation?
• What do you do if you have a location-type disaster (fire, flood, theft, etc.)?

If you can answer these questions succinctly then you’ve got the base for a solid disaster recovery plan. Start with one sheet and write down the answers.

If you don’t know how to get a file back that you’ve lost, you’ve got questions to answer. Not just the IT department, but executives, team leads, every employee involved should understand the protocols for what they need to do in case of these disasters. It’s not just backup, it’s how to replace equipment, procurement processes, warrantee processes, and so on.

A disaster recovery and response plan will go much deeper than these three questions, but starting here will get the basics covered so that you have a plan or force yourself to develop one for when something goes wrong.

The post Ensuring Your Storage and Backup Plan and Technology is Secure appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Both products debuted this week at Navigate, Boston-based Continuum’s annual partner event, which is currently underway in Las Vegas.

The new BDR system, called Continuity247 Backup, is a stripped-down version of Continuum’s more expansive flagship data protection solution that doesn’t support local virtualization of unavailable endpoints or full site virtualization. Unlike the full-scale product, moreover, the new one utilizes commodity hardware from third-party OEMs typically priced around $500 rather than Continuum’s own custom-manufactured appliance, which costs $1,200 to $1,500.

“Not all customers have the need to pay for that, or the willingness or the ability to pay for it,” says Fielder Hiss, Continuum’s vice president of product. Continuity247 Backup, he continues, enables MSPs to deliver data protection services to such customers at a TCO 60 to 70 percent lower than the legacy Continuity247 offering.

Businesses that wish to can virtualize endpoints in the cloud, Hiss notes, and store full site images in low cost repositories like the Archive for Continuity247 product that Continuum introduced in June. That product is optimized for use with Amazon Glacier, a cloud storage offering from Amazon Web Services that sells disk capacity for fractions of a penny per gigabyte.

Hardware used with the system must meet minimum requirements spelled out by Continuum. Those specs vary based on the size of the endpoints being protected. Customers can purchase backup servers from the supplier of their choice, though pre-assembled configurations are available from RackApps, a hardware supplier based in Fremont, Calif.

Continuity247 comes with outsourced management services via Continuum’s network operations center, just like other Continuity247 versions, and can be administered centrally via Continuum’s RMM solution.

“This will allow you to cover a broader spectrum of your customers with a single solution and a single point of view and a single dashboard,” Hiss says.

The new edition of Total Desktop Care Plus unveiled today features a modernized interface designed to enhance usability as well as “sequencing controls” that let MSPs define and execute step-by-step workflows. Technicians can create a software deployment sequence, for example, that installs the application, downloads the latest service pack, and then reboots the target endpoint.

“Typically, that’s three things for a technician to do. We’ll make it one thing,” Hiss states. “They can truly do end-to-end automation.”

The new Total Desktop Care Plus release also includes grouping functionality that lets MSPs apply tasks against multiple endpoints at once based on what OS they’re running, where they’re located, and other variables. According to Hiss, that and the other new capabilities in the product combine to deliver increased technician productivity.

“We’re seeing significant time savings in their day-to-day activities managing desktops,” he says.

The post New Backup and Desktop Management Solutions from Continuum appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Available immediately, True Image 2018 utilizes cloud-based machine learning models informed by threat intelligence on hundreds of thousands of malicious and legitimate processes to detect and halt ransomware attacks before they can begin corrupting data.

Those capabilities supplement the heuristics analysis functionality in Acronis Active Protection previously. Like earlier editions of True Image, the new one automatically restores files to their unencrypted state should a ransomware virus slip past those defensive layers.

Historically, innovations that debuted in True Image, like the new Acronis Active Protection artificial intelligence capabilities, have subsequently appeared in Acronis Backup, the vendor’s business-oriented data protection solution. For example, Acronis Notary, a feature that uses blockchain technology to verify that backup files haven’t been tampered with, first reached market in True Image 2017 this January before showing up in Acronis Backup 12.5 in May.

More and more security vendors, including Trend Micro Inc. and McAfee LLC, are incorporating machine learning in their products. Analyst firm Gartner recently predicted that AI will be a component of virtually every software product or service by 2020.

Other key upgrades in True Image 2018 include a virtual drive conversion feature that lets users confirm the recoverability of their full image backups in a Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine; new block-level change tracking technology that accelerates incremental backups; and active disk cloning functionality that can make complete replicas of a protected Microsoft Windows PC in the background while the device is running. In addition to strengthening the solution’s backup capabilities, that last feature also reduces downtime for users migrating protected systems onto a new disk drive.

In addition, new continuous cloud backup functionality in True Image 2018 lets users automatically upload backups to an offsite storage site. A refined interface provides access to greater amounts of graphically-formatted information about backup activities and status, as well as statistics about matters like how much data users have stored and what file types are represented in their backups.

A new Instagram backup feature slated to become available September 4th will allow users to protect photos, comments, and data on how many likes, tags, and comments their posts attracted.

True Image 2018 is available in three editions. Paid for through a perpetual license with prices starting at $49.99 for a single computer, the Standard edition comes without the solution’s cloud storage and other cloud-based features. Both the Advanced and Premium editions include that online functionality, as well as 250 GB of initial cloud storage (upgradable to 500 GB) for Advanced users and 1 TB (upgradable to 5 TB) for Premium users.

The Advanced and Premium editions are also both subscription-priced. Advanced rates begin at $49.99 to protect a single PC for a year. Premium subscriptions start at $99.99 for one year’s coverage of a single computer.

All three versions of the product come with Acronis Active Protection and cover an unlimited number of mobile devices.

The post Acronis Ships New Backup Solution with AI-Based Ransomware Defenses appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Informed by requests from both customers and MSPs, the new offering allows organizations that store backups in the cloud to choose between Barracuda’s own offsite infrastructure and Amazon’s popular S3 service. Users receive access to the same de-duplication, bandwidth optimization, data compression, encryption, and other cloud replication features either way.

“It just gives them another option,” says Rod Mathews, senior vice president and general manager for data protection solutions at Barracuda, which is headquartered in Campbell, Calif.

The new service, which is available immediately to users in North America with global rollout to follow in coming months, offers automated setup functionality via the same administration console technicians use to perform other management tasks.

“They won’t have to do anything to configure this in their AWS account,” Mathews says. “They basically authenticate with their S3 account, point us to the right place where they want to store the data, and then we take it from there.”

Editions of the product from Barracuda’s Chelmsford, Mass.-based Intronis MSP Solutions division let channel pros who provide white-labeled cloud replication services store data securely in their own S3 account, rather than the customer’s, as well. Barracuda introduced the Intronis edition of Barracuda Backup, which offers consolidated, multi-tenant management, in March 2016 and added automated configuration capabilities to it in June.

Like all Barracuda Backup appliances, those that utilize Amazon’s public cloud for replication feature subscription-based pricing. AWS users pay “significantly lower” base fees than users who store data in Barracuda’s cloud, Mathews says, but must pay for S3 capacity at standard Amazon rates on top of that.

According to Mathews, Barracuda engineered its AWS replication service in a way that will allow for future enhancements that few of its competitors offer at present. Those could include the ability to recover files outside of Amazon’s native formats or to use AWS as a disaster recovery environment as well as replication target.

“We didn’t just lift and shift our infrastructure into the AWS environment,” Mathews says. “We actually did a little bit of re-architecturing to make sure that we could leverage their platform as effectively as possible.”

Barracuda plans to make the Microsoft Azure public cloud a third replication option for Barracuda Backup at an unspecified point in the future, and will consider adding support for additional clouds as well if customer demand justifies it.

A new research study from Barracuda reports that 83 percent of organizations worldwide use the public cloud to store data at present. According to Mathews, SMBs are especially likely to host backups in the cloud.

“[They] don’t necessarily have a second site or a second office that they can replicate data to,” he notes.

Managed services software maker Continuum introduced a similar low-cost archiving solution for SMBs that’s optimized for use with AWS in June. Barracuda customers and partners can use AWS for offsite vaulting as well.

The post Barracuda Adds Amazon Web Services as Replication Option for Cloud Backups appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The first thing in disaster recovery is backups.  Your data has to be backed up and protected off-site.  Without this step, all the subsequent steps will be fruitless since you will have no data to work off of.

In the early days of data protection it was sufficient enough to have your data backups sitting right next to your server or in a safe located on-site.  This is no longer the case.  The data must reside outside of the organization and preferably in the cloud.

The best way to achieve this is to use a business continuity device.  With a business continuity device your data is backed up to the device and then it’s automatically pushed to the cloud.  This ensures that you have both a local copy and cloud copy of your data.

The next step is to designate at least two point people.  The purpose of this role is when disaster strikes the people in your organization need to know who to contact. These designated people will have contact information for all the pertinent vendors and will also be able to instruct others on what the next steps in your protocol will be.

Bringing up protocol brings us to the next step. Make sure that you have a written protocol plan.  You need to know where you will tell people to go.  Do you have a second location?  Do employees stay at home and await further instructions?  You should document everything that will need to take place if such an event occurs.

Most disaster situations take place when there is a physical issue at your location where your data is kept and stored. Whether it be a power outage, flooding, hurricane, tornado or some other natural disaster these all fit the bill.  This is not to say that other situations can’t fit the bill such as human error, a ransomware attack or a successful hack.

Protect your data, have designated people ready for action, and have a fully documented process in place. Communication is your friend and you need to make sure that you can properly disseminate information with those in your organization during a time of crisis.

The post Is Your Organization Properly Prepared for Disaster Recovery? appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Minneapolis-based Arcserve describes the move as the first step in a roughly 12-month effort that will culminate in the release of a fully-integrated comprehensive “disaster avoidance” solution for mid-market companies with both hybrid cloud and cloud-only deployment options.

Terms of the deal, which closed on June 14th, were not disclosed.

Arcserve, which has renamed Zetta’s platform Arcserve UDP Cloud Direct, plans to make that offering available to its North American channel on August 14th. Partners in Europe, the middle east, and Africa will gain access to the system in the fall, with availability in Japan following in the spring of 2018.

UDP Cloud Direct will initially have its own administration portal. A unified web-based management console offering single-pane-of-glass control over all UDP components will reach market within “a handful of months,” according to Arcserve CMO Rick Parker.

Zetta has about 40 employees and roughly 2,700 customers. It sells both directly to end users and through a network of MSPs. Those partners will now be transitioned into Arcserve’s channel, which has some 7,500 members worldwide.

Significantly, Zetta hosts its cloud in its own data centers, which it has customized for backup and disaster recovery purposes.

“When it comes to disaster recovery, if you really want to lower that price point we feel like you need your own optimized data center,” Parker says.

Unlike Arcserve’s existing UDP systems, which combine onsite and offsite recovery point servers in a hybrid cloud model, direct-to-cloud solutions like Zetta’s require no on-premises hardware, making them an attractive option for branch offices, retail outlets, and other mostly smaller sites whose owners want to keep data safe but don’t want to take on the cost and complexity of maintaining remote infrastructure.

According to Parker, Zetta’s WAN optimization technology, which can transfer large amounts of data into the cloud fast enough to keep data loss down to a few seconds when recovering applications, sets its solutions apart from other cloud-only offerings.

“They might be able to spin that application back up pretty quickly,” he says of competitors, “but they have lost hours of data.”

Zetta’s near zero recovery point objective capabilities play a critical role in Arcserve’s long-term plans to turn UDP into a disaster avoidance solution. According to Parker, weaving Zetta’s products together with its existing UDP replication and high availability platforms will ultimately enable businesses to negate disasters rather than reevocer from them.

“If you can recover from a disaster in seconds, you’ve avoided it, or at least you avoided the ensuing IT and financial disaster that can happen,” he says.

Arcserve expects integrating its legacy and newly-acquired systems to take approximately 12 months. The solution that results at the end of that process, Arcserve claims, will offer not only near zero data loss but easy implementation and comprehensive protection for physical, virtual, and cloud-based workloads as well at affordable prices.

“[It] will make availability available to a whole new swath of mid-market applications and companies,” Parker says.

Zetta’s products offer self-serve management. Arcserve considers that an essential attribute of any viable mid-market BDR solution, because systems managed externally by MSPs or others cost more than many midsize businesses will pay. With their subscription-based pricing, UDP Cloud Direct and the disaster avoidance solution Arcserve is developing now will benefit channel partners anyway, the company says, by enabling providers of managed network services to become data protection service providers as well without first building their own hosting infrastructure.

“This gives them a way to broker cloud and participate in ongoing annuities without having to be on their own data center,” Parker says, noting that Arcserve partners who wish to can private-label the company’s solutions.

Zetta is only the most recent Arcserve vendor acquisition. In April, the company bought FastArchiverand added that company’s email archiving solution to the UDP portfolio. According to Parker, more acquisitions are likely to come for Arcserve, which has been owned by Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based private investment firm Marlin Equity Partners since 2014.

“An advantage to our investment model is we’re really built to be able to add on capabilities,” he says. “I would fully expect to do more acquisitions in the future to broaden our market footprint or to deliver new capabilities to our customers.”

Arcserve has roughly 45,000 customers at present, including 26,000 UDP customers.

The post Arcserve Acquisition Adds Cloud Backup and Disaster Recover Capabilities to Platform appeared first on My TechDecisions.

HPE Data Protector 10.00

Data Protector is an enterprise-class solution that securely centralizes backup and recovery management across thousands of clients, repositories, platforms, and locations. The new updates focus on protecting communication between Data Protector components to create a highly reliable and secure backup environment with lower overheads. Other new features include a redesigned web-based user interface, dashboard, and scheduler. Data Protector also boasts seamless integration with existing customer solutions such as storage, virtualization platforms, web portals, applications, and deployment tools via rest APIs.

Backup Navigator 9.60

Backup Navigator backup monitoring and reporting software uses analytics to identify and resolve issues within the Data Protector environment. New automation and built-in intelligence provide administrators with a detailed problem description and recommended actions based on information gathered and analyzed by Backup Navigator, helping customers efficiently solve backup problems. Other updates include monitoring and reporting for HPE VM Explorer, allowing administrators to report on both Data Protector and VM Explorer environments from a single application.

Storage Optimizer 5.50

Storage Optimizer now offers better extensibility into 3^rd party platforms such as NetApp, SharePoint 2016, and Windows Server 2016. The data storage optimization solution also features improved security and reporting with metastore security group implementation to provide more efficient assignment of permissions.

VM Explorer 6.5

The VM backup solution offers integration with HPE StoreOnce Catalyst and support for Catalyst Copy for efficient backup and replication.

“IT managers are under pressure to ensure more secure backup and faster recovery to reduce the downtime that leads to higher costs and risk,” says Stephen Spellicy, VP product management, Information Management & Governance, HPE Software. “The new innovations around the HPE Adaptive Backup and Recovery Suite enable IT staff to mitigate operational concerns, while providing streamlined processes, automation, and secure communications to better managing today’s digital environments.”

The enhanced HPE Adaptive Backup and Recovery suite is now available.

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